Indian govt to sell generic drugs

The Indian government has decided that from July 1 it will procure medicines in bulk from public and private drug manufacturing firms and sell them in the retail market. Rebranded under `Jan Aushadhi`, consumers will benefit from competitive price yet quality product from the government. The government has identified 504 essential medicines including antibiotics, painkillers, vitamins and medicines used in treatment of cardiovascular, respiratory, diabetes and gastroenterology diseases. In the first phase, the government has identified medicines from the top 100 drugs based on their sales. These drugs will first be made available to 800 select chemists, mostly across Delhi. Later, the plan will expand to most metros by the end of 2015.